


Echoes of the Wasteland

by Unionhack



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: AU in which the Courier meets the LW in 2277 and helps her with finding her dad, Alternate Universe, And then things just go crazy from there, Gen, Like basically all 3 games' stories with a continuous cast of characters, Novelization
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:31:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5445047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unionhack/pseuds/Unionhack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>History remembers great men and women even after history has ended. </p><p>In the year 2277, a visitor stumbles upon the town of Megaton and decides to rest for the night. A chance meeting with a newcomer to the wastes sets into motion events that will change the face of scarred America forever.</p><p>This is the story of three travelers, each pursuing their own dream, who cross each others' paths and leave the echoes of their actions in their wake, changing the lives of all around them. </p><p>But are these changes for better, or for worse? </p><p>That is for history to decide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Recollection

War. War never changes.

I'm not sure where I heard that line, and I'm not sure why, but it never leaves my head. The world we live in is a grim reminder of just how deep of a grave man can dig for himself; you'd think some folks would look around and think "Hey, I should put down the assault rifle and pick up a plow!", but instead we carry on like we've been doing for thousands of years. Someone with big guns sees something they want, and they come and try to take it from the people with smaller guns.

What can the people with smaller guns do? They can run, they can lay down and accept their fates, they can look for bigger guns of their own, or they can find someone that can take the small guns and win anyway. 

The latter option always intrigued me. I've been surprised time and time again by what a single person can do. A single person led the charge against the Enclave in the Capital Wasteland. A single person turned the Mojave Desert upside down at Hoover Dam. A single person stormed the ruins of the Commonwealth and changed it forever. 

Hell, at some point, a single person had the idea for the atomic bomb.

I'm terrible at these introspective things, but any good story should start with something deep like that. I wish I could say I came out of all this mess enlightened. 10 years since I walked into Megaton and I'm probably no closer to finding the meaning of life than I was when I was hurled screaming into this world. Hell, I might be even farther away. 

I'm not sure where things went wrong. I'm not sure if things will go up or down from here. But I do know that life is a struggle that's fought day to day. Life's a fight, and it's a war.

And war... War never changes.


	2. 2277: Megaton

It was like a wrapped present on the horizon when I saw it. Megaton. Holy shit, I had been to a few holes in my time, but it's pretty hard to beat a town built out of airplane scrap and centered around a dormant atomic bomb.

I can't say I understood how the things worked. Explosives and wires weren't really my cup of tea, but that thing still made me nervous even with the locals assuring me that they've lived around the thing for years. I thought of it a lot like living at the foot of a volcano. "Well, it hasn't erupted in the past few decades, so we're good, right?"

Yeah, I'm sure that's what the guys at Pompeii said.

Still, I was pretty sure my arrival wasn't the herald of further atomic doom. I had been walking for a few days, and had supplies for a few more, but it was a relief to sleep somewhere relatively safe. I remember watching the automated doors open up; pretty good engineering for a small hick town in the middle of DC. Sure as hell beats anything going down where I came from.

A dark-skinned man in a cowboy hat strolled up to 'greet' me when I first stepped in. I guess I looked pretty suspicious. A stranger walks in in a long armored coat and a pair of sunglasses even though it's a good deal past sunset (the sunglasses-at-all-times bit is always tough to explain to people), and you start to ask questions.

"Welcome to Megaton. The name's Sheriff Lucas Simms, and this here is my town. I take it you're not looking to cause any trouble here, am I right?"

Ah, the good old 'behave or we shoot you on sight' deal. Well, I certainly couldn't say I wouldn't do the same were I in his shoes. So, politely, I complied like the friendly guy I am.

"Of course not, Sheriff. Just looking to put my feet up for a bit. Lovely town y'all've got, by the by." I said. Hey, it was the truth. The place was a hole, but it had a certain glow about it, and I'm not just talking about the pool of irradiated water in the middle of town.

He seemed to be satisfied judging by the smile he gave. "Good to hear. You can check in at Moriarty's overlooking the crater if you're looking for a decent bed. We've got a bunkhouse just next to the Brass Lantern if quality isn't an issue. Food at the Lantern is downright edible, if I might say so myself. Anything else I can help with?"

I shook my head. Cheap beds and edible food pretty much fulfilled my checklist. "Nothing else. Thanks, Sheriff."

Simms gave me a nod as I stepped past him to descend into the town proper. It was no Vault City, but the string of light bulbs hanging over the diner brought me a smile. I always loved small-time diners. The ma-and-pa vibe usually means pretty good food. Well, what passes for good food in the Wasteland.

I decided to stop by the Brass Lantern to take Simms up on the prospect of decent eats. There was an ornery guy with an assault rifle strapped casually to his back, picking at some iguana; other than that, the stools were empty, so I made sure to sit away from the guy. I know better than to give guys like that the time of day.

The bartender was a lady with a pretty cold disposition, but it seemed mostly directed towards the guy sitting at the bar. She seemed to be standing as far from his as she could while she cleaned her dishes, giving him hard glares when he looked up at her. Obviously wasn't my business, so I just took my seat and cleared my throat.

The woman turned to me, showing the 'Jenny' nametag on her shirt as she came close to my part of the counter. "Hey there. New in town, huh? Can I get you something?"

I looked over at the menu and immediately knew what I was getting the moment I saw the words 'noodles' and 'beer'. My two favorite damn things. "Get me the noodles and a beer, if you don't mind." I asked, sliding her the 25 caps for the order and an extra 5 as a tip. 

"Coming right up!" she answered with a smile as she retreated to the inside to grab my order. Thus, leaving me with this piece of work in rag-tag leather armor that was way past due to a touch up.

It was fine, so long as he didn't try to-

"Oh, look. Another one of you Wasteland assholes."

Fuck.

"Look here, asshole. I don’t like you. Stay clear of me and we won’t have any problem."

He was the one talking to me!

"Er, yeah, whatever. " I said nonchalantly. I didn't have to deal with this shit. "You got a problem?" I asked. Instigating stuff with douchebags like this was always fun, and I was pretty sure I could take the guy. He looked like he was in his mid 40s, and I had the advantage at a nice young 22.

"Yeah, I got a problem. What you gonna do about it?" he asked.

Welp. Time to bust out the big guns. Or, you know, the small gun. I whipped out my scoped .44 revolver and pointed it straight towards his chest. It was mostly for show; I didn't intend to betray Sheriff Simms' trust fifteen minutes after walking into town. Besides, shootouts aren't fun when innocent bystanders are around.

He didn't even flinch. That told me that the guy was pretty adjusted to having guns in his face. That, or he was too bored with the world to care about dying. Maybe it was both?

"Hah! You've got balls, kid. Maybe I was wrong about you." he said with a laugh. Must've read my bluff. "Put the gun away and take a seat. Maybe I can tell you what's what here."

I paused for a moment. It's usually against my policy to refuse when someone tells me to put the gun away, after all, but the guy seemed harmless enough. I could pull a revolver out on him faster than he could get his rifle ready, anyway.

So I took my seat, and he spoke first. "The name's Jericho, and I do security for this shithole. Watch the walls, watch for raiders every once in a while. What's your name, kid?"

"Alistair." I answered. "Alistair Freeman. Call me Al."

"Sure kid, sure." he said with a nod. Guess my name was now 'kid'. "So, what're you doing here? Can't be looking to settle down. Especially not here."

What was I doing, really? I didn't know the answer to that. One day I had just had enough to the delivery business, and just decided to start walking. I had enough caps saved up to finance a good few months of traveling, and before long I made it to DC. I knew what I was doing, but I didn't know why. I just... wanted to walk. It just happened to take me a few hundred miles east.

"Just resting between long legs of a trip." I said. It wasn't a lie, but it was vague enough for my tastes.

Jericho nodded and eyed me up and down. "And where are ya headed? You look too geared up to be a merchant."

Shit. Another one I didn't really know the answer to. I guess I was just walking until I ran out of road. Whatever the existential crisis demanded.

So, I told an outright lie this time. "I'm headed to the Commonwealth. I've got some family in Boston."

Jericho nodded again and returned to his food for a moment as Jenny came back out with the beer and noodles. Her walking out seemed to shut him up right quick. I thanked her with a nod and took a swig of the beer to start the night off.

After a few minutes of shooting the shit with Jericho, I was staring at the bottom of an empty bowl of noodles and an empty beer bottle. I looked back over to Jericho, who was in the middle of a laughing fit after his third or so order of whiskey. For a lecherous old bastard that probably used to go out raiding, he wasn't that bad of a guy. Still, it was late and I was tired, so I got turned in my stool to look for where the bunkhouse might've been.

That's when I got my first glimpse of Eden. The woman who changed my life, and not like how most of the women I know tend to do.

It's funny how different she looked then. 19 years old, platinum blonde hair still being taken care of, eyeglasses mostly undamaged, dressed in that gaudy vault suit and toting a busted-up laser pistol on her hip. She wasn't the least bit battle hardened. No, she was straight out of Vault 101, still innocent to just how bad things could be out here. 

She just looked so out of place.

And of course, she walked right over to where I was. She could've gone anywhere in town, but she just had to hit the Brass Lantern. I guess destiny has a funny way of working out. I still wonder what would have happened if I had never talked to her that night.

"Excuse me." she said, looking past Jericho and I and talking straight to Jenny. Well, she got that part right. Bartenders are the best people to prod for information. "I'm looking for my father. Middle aged guy, might have walked through here not long ago. Probably in a vault suit, maybe in a lab coat?"

Well. That got real tragic real quick.

"I'm sorry, honey, I haven't seen anyone like that. Maybe you could-"

Jericho cleared his throat. "I think I know who you're talking about, kid." he said, with a surprising tone of sobriety to his voice. "He walked through here alright, spent a lot of time at Moriarty's. Up top, on the ramps. You should talk to Colin." he said, pointing out the bar a few dozen feet above us.

The girl looked so relieved at the hint of news. I didn't know at the time just how rough her first few hours in the wasteland were. "Thank you!" she exclaimed. "I'll go ask around right away."

"Before you go, maybe get your buddy Jericho something nice for the tip." he asked. More booze? Seriously? Did the girl _look_ like she had a bag of caps on her?

Eden patted her pockets and shook her head. "I, uh... Don't have any..."

Hell no.

"Here. Get something from the top shelf." I told Jericho as I spitefully tossed about a dozen caps at him. It was a lot more than I should have given, but nothing gets on my nerves more than people taking advantage of people after acts of 'kindness'. "You heading up there?" I asked her. No way I was letting some greenhorn vault kid walk into a wastelander bar without someone watching her back. Too much shit goes down in those kinds of places.

I think she caught on to what I was suggesting. I could tell for all her eagerness, she was scared. I would've been too, really. "Yeah. I've got to find out all I can. If you're heading in the same direction, feel free to follow."

I nodded and offered my hand for a shake. "Sure thing. Name's Alistair by the way."

She hesitantly took my hand. Firm shake for a girl of her size. It was surprises from day one with her. "Eden." she answered. "Well... I guess we should..."

"Go ahead, lead the way." I said, standing up from my seat. She nodded and started up the path to the bar on the craterside catwalks, while I followed a few feet behind.

I was lost in my thoughts on the way up. Why was I doing this, really? I got the whole goodwill thing, that was just part of my nature. But I had heard one line from this girl about her dad missing, and all of a sudden I was committed to her fraternal-finding crusade like it was my own. Then again, I guess nothing about my actions really made sense at the time. No sense of purpose or direction makes you willing to jump at whatever opportunities you can find for adventure.

And it was one hell of an adventure I was gearing myself up for.


	3. 2277: The Saloon

I hated Colin Moriarty from the moment I laid eyes on him.

I knew his type, the kind to extort caps from anyone he could. Since he owned a saloon, that meant he had an entire selection of drunk 'anyones' to choose from for just that purpose.

It's just plain honor. You _never_ take advantage of someone who's drunk, no matter what. A man's at his most vulnerable when he's deep in his cups. The alcohol muddles your brain, but damned if it doesn't bare your heart to everyone when your brain isn't there to stop that.

And that's not the worst part. Poor Gob. Moriarty had the poor ghoul working as a slave, managing the bar to meet the bare minimum of a living. Call Moriarty gracious for allowing him even that in a shitty world like ours, but I like to hold people to higher standards than that. Slavery is slavery, no matter how much flesh the person in question has left on their face.

I entered the Saloon behind Eden, but soon enough to see (and hear) her freak out when she saw Gob for the first time. It made sense, I suppose, that the poor girl had never seen a ghoul in her life. Still, the loud shout of 'GAH, FUCK!' was a tad bit much.

I caught her as she stumbled back and patted her shoulder. "Hey, chill out. He took a bit too much radiation at one point and now he's like that. Happens to a good few people. Best you get used to it now. He's still all human on the inside."

She still couldn't look straight at him, but she nodded and took a deep breath. The whole bar was looking at us at this point, causing a bit of an uncomfortable bit of silence. That's when we heard his voice. That grating, Irish voice.

"Hear now, don't you all have drinking to do?" called a white-haired man who approached the two of us. "Now, what's all this mess? Never seen a ghoul, hm? Figures." Moriarty said as he looked Eden up and down, probably noting her vault suit. It did sort of stick out. "And what's the deal with the sunglasses inside, at night? You with him?" he asked, motioning to a shady looking guy in a suit sitting in a corner of the bar.

"Nah, sensitive eyes." I told him. Hey, it was the truth. "Listen, she's looking for someone and she heard you were the one to talk to. I'm just here for the beer."

He nodded but then looked at Eden again with a look of shock. "By God, it's you, isn't it? The little babe that came on through here all that time ago? All grown up looking for dad?"

"What?" Eden asked, a bit taken aback. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was born in Vault 101. You must have me confused with-"

Moriarty had a good laugh at that. "Ah, is that what your dad told you? Born in the vault, die in the vault, all hail the overseer? Ah, the lies we tell the ones we love."

The conversation at that point was way too personal, so I slipped away as Eden and Moriarty walked over towards an empty spot at the bar to talk. The shady character Moriarty had pointed out was waving me over, so I decided to see what he wanted; with a hand on my belt near my gun, for good measure.

"Yes, that's right, step over and take a seat. My name is Mr. Burke, and I'm quite pleased to make your acquaintance. I've got a business proposal for you." he said.

I shook my head. "I'll stand, thanks. What've you got for me?"

"Right to the point... I like it." he said. Burke spoke in a slow voice, sounding like he was trying really hard to be charismatic but coming through as sinister. "Let's get down to business, then. I represent certain... interests. And these interests view this town, this 'Megaton', as a blight on a burgeoning urban landscape. You're no resident of this town, that's plain as day; you've no connections here, no interest in the fate of those who live in this cesspool. You could assist us in wiping this little accident off of the map."

Oh _hell_ no.

"And how do you plan on getting me to do that?" I asked. I'd play along for a bit, get him to let off more than he should.

Burke nodded towards a window looking out on the crater in the center of town, where the dormant atomic bomb slept. I knew it. "The undetonated atomic bomb within this city's center is still very much alive. All it needs is a little motivation." he said, producing a wrapped package. "This here is a single fusion pulse charge, built for the sole purpose of detonating the bomb. All I need you to do is plant the charge, and meet me at my place of employment to watch the fireworks."

I nodded and accepted the package. "Alright, got it. And I've got another suggestion."

Burke raised an eyebrow. "And what is that? Payment? You'll be well compensated, I assure you."

"I'm more interested in what Sheriff Simms might think of this charge here. Not exactly the kind of thing that a responsible Sheriff might be a fan of."

"Ah, I see." Burke said as he leaned back in his chair. "That presents a problem, doesn't it?"

He was going for a gun, I could tell by a twitch of the shoulder, but I was faster. Good thing I had planned ahead.

A single shot from my revolver shut the entire bar up, but more importantly, it shut Burke up... for good. I felt bad for the person who had to clean the blood off of the wall, but I think they'd thank me for saving the entire city from a nuclear detonation.

Sure enough, the entire bar was looking at me. Some of them had even stood up to leave, or whipped out guns of their own. Thinking back, it was a bit weird. I had been in the joint for a whole 5 minutes before shooting someone.

"You'll thank me later." I said aloud, putting my gun away and holding my free hand up. The bar quieted down for a bit; guess I either wasn't the first one Burke tried to proposition, or just really was that shady and someone expected him to get shot eventually. Hey, it _was_ a wastelander bar. People getting shot was something that just happened.

Moriarty and Eden returned to their conversation, and it was the latter that had the shocked expression on her face this time. They were gonna be at it for a while, I think, so I decided to take a step outside. I was close enough to run back in if something happened. As much as I didn't like leaving her alone with that slimy bastard, I was probably making the other bar patrons antsy after the whole shot-a-guy-in-the-forehead deal.

I had barely made it out the door when Sheriff Simms walked up the ramps with his rifle drawn and pointed at me. "You! I told you not to go around causing trouble! Care to explain why I just heard a gunshot at the saloon?"

I almost claimed innocence, but there happened to be a bit of Burke-blood on my coat, so that was a no. Hell, Simms seemed an honest man, so it was time to be honest. "Easy there, Sheriff." I said, holding my hands up. "I just saved your entire town. A shady guy named Burke tried to get me to rig the bomb in the center of town with a fusion pulse charge."

Simms lowered his gun slightly, so I brought my hands down at an equal pace. "He did look shady, didn't he? And I guess you did him in. You got any proof justifying what you just did?"

I nodded and produced the charge. "Here, this is what he wanted me to put in the bomb. Keep it, destroy it, whatever. I just couldn't let him go through with whatever his plan was."

"Well I'll be damned." the Sheriff said as he gingerly cradled the package. "I think I owe you an apology then, stranger. Seems I've misjudged you. I'd feel better if the bomb was put out for good, but I'll sleep well at night knowing whatever that fool was planning won't be happening."

I nodded. "If I find anything to help with that, I'll let you know. I can't work explosives to save my life, let alone... well, everyone's."

Simms nodded. "Well, you've done right by us. You're always welcome here, uh..."

"Alistair."

"Alistair, then. Now, while I appreciate what you've done, I'd appreciate it if you kept the gun in the holster for a bit. Have yourself a good night."

I nodded. "Same to you, Sheriff, same to you."

After Simms left, I leaned gingerly against the railing of the walkway. It seemed stable enough. From there I gazed out at the night sky, checking out what stars I could see. One of my favorite pastimes, really. The stars were a distant reminder that no matter how screwed up everything was down here, what was out there never-

"Hey."

Eden came out and leaned against the railing like I did, gently. She looked like she was trying not to cry.

"Hey." I replied simply. "Learned anything?"

 "A lot." Eden confirmed. "Look, I know it's late, and I don't really know you, but can you just stay and listen for a sec?"

I nodded. I was in this far, right? "Yeah, go ahead."

Eden took a deep breath. "I just found out that everything I've been told my entire life by my dad might be one huge lie. That I wasn't born in the vault, like I've thought since I was a kid. And if that's not true, what else was I lied to about? I wonder if my mom's even dead like he told me."

"Sounds like you need to find him and ask him yourself." I suggested.

"Yeah." Eden agreed, followed by an exasperated sigh. "Listen, I don't have any money- er, caps- but I could really use someone to point me in the direction of-"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about the money, alright? I can help you get wherever you need to get to, free of charge. Call it goodwill if you want."

"Are you serious?" she asked, blinking with confusion. "I'm not saying no, I'm just surprised. It seems like everyone out here is just out for themselves."

"For the most part, yeah. Just trust me on this. I know what it's like to be shoved out into the big bad wasteland on your own, with no one to rely on. And you seem like a good kid. I don't want you to put up with the same shit I had to."

She still seemed a little skeptical, but I was likely her only hope for help at this point. I don't blame her for being paranoid though. There's way too many people in the wasteland that take advantage of everyone they come across. It's more survival of the fittest than when cavemen walked the earth. After another pause, she nodded and gave me a simple "okay".

"Alright, good. Now, you got any lead from Moriarty? Any clue where your old man went off to?" I asked.

Eden nodded and tapped a device on her left arm. Oh yeah, I had forgotten she was wearing a Pip-boy. It was standard Vault Dweller affair, after all. "He told me that my dad went to visit someone named 'Three Dog' at a 'Galaxy News Radio' somewhere in downtown DC. Let's see..." she said, twisting a few knobs as she tuned her Pip-boy's radio to a frequency that had been relayed to her earlier. The sound waves picked up on the Pip-boy's display, but I couldn't hear anything.

"Care to, uh, share with the class?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, right! Sorry, it usually transmits it directly to the brain. Pip-boys operate on biometric seals and stuff like that. Here, let me..." she said, clicking another button that caused the radio to play aloud instead of straight into her head.

Well, there was a radio show going on alright, but it was muddled with static. You could hear some guy - whom I assumed to be Three Dog - howling loud enough to get a clear sound, but his other ramblings weren't coming through quite so clearly.

"I guess we need to get in closer, to get an idea of where they're broadcasting from." I reasoned. "But first, we should get some sleep. I've been on the road since the morning, and it's not a good idea to travel at night anyhow."

Eden nodded and clicked off the radio. "Okay. To the bunkhouse, then?"

I nodded and lead the way. It was about damn time I got some sleep.


	4. 2277: The Open Road

Eden and I made a quick supply run at the local general store, the 'Craterside Supply', before we headed out. The owner of the place was an eccentric lady named Moira, who had a couple of questions on Eden's vault. We left with a good bit of ammo and food for the road; going out into downtown DC, we were gonna need it.

The real bulk of the transaction, besides the energy cells for Eden's laser pistol, was the armor that Moira had strapped on to Eden's vault suit free-of-charge. It was some good work; wouldn't save her life or anything, but save her from a few bad hits. She was starting to look semi-ready for the harsh world outside of the pseudo-civilization of Megaton.

How little I knew.

"Alright, so your wristwatch has a map on it, right?" I asked as we stepped out of the Megaton gate.

Eden batted her eyes at me, unimpressed at the euphemism. "My _Pip-boy_ auto-maps where I've walked, yes." she answered. "Unless I find some map data to download, it can't paint us a picture of where GNR is at."

"So unless we find some map data out in the city, we just keep heading east until the signal starts getting stronger. The DJ's bound to drop a location at some point." I advised as we made the turn around Megaton.

"Right." she said, letting things fade into an awkward silence.

As far as nuclear wastelands go, the Capital Wasteland got hit a little harder than most places I'm familiar with. I guess it makes sense; it was apparently the seat of the American government before the war. High value target, high nuclear payload. Still, it has a bit of charm to it. I still recall it pretty fondly; though, that may be just for virtue of the memories I have of the journey and not the location itself.

There's one part of the big CW that stands out as the worst, though. The goddamn slavers.

We were about three hours out of Megaton when we encountered the first living thing that wasn't a rabid mongrel. Down the road walked what looked like a caravan, complete with a pack brahmin. There were three people walking with the brahmin; most likely a merchant and two guards. The standard fare, and the standard fare is never enough.

"Is that a caravan?" Eden asked. "Maybe they're worth talking to?" she guessed, taking point to go and talk to them.

It was a decent idea in spirit, but stopping to talk to a caravan on an open road, hours away from any settlement, was just begging for trouble. Still, I would have gone along with it cautiously if I didn't catch something behind the hills.

"Eden, get down!" I whisper-shouted, grabbing her by the neck fabric of her suit and dragging her into cover behind a nearby rock.

My little maneuver earned me a slap to the face as Eden regained her balance. "What the hell was that for?" she whisper-shouted back, apparently picking up on the fact that something was wrong but not entirely pleased with my execution.

I rubbed my cheek for a moment and drew my gun, looking over the rock through the scope.

It all seemed really peaceful for a moment. The two caravan guards were talking, sharing a couple laughs as they trekked down the road with the merchant. It was all well and good, until one of their heads exploded.

Eden heard the shot and immediately tensed up. "Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god..."

"Hey. Hey, listen to me." I said, kneeling back down into cover. "Things are gonna get a lot worse, real quick. This is the light shit. I need you to take a deep breath and get ready in case something comes our way. If you can't do that, we're never gonna find your old man."

She looked at me with a hurt expression.

"I can't sugarcoat this, alright? This is what it's like out here. You're not in the vault anymore." I continued. "There's only one thing that matters; what we're going to do about it."

Eden took a deep breath and nodded after a moment. "Let me take a look." she said with forced conviction. I nodded her and handed her my revolver for her to look through the scope.

As she shakingly looked over the top of the rock, I peered out on the right side. I could see well enough without the scope.

The two guards were dead on the ground, sans heads, and four other people gathered around the dead pack brahmin and the merchant. The merchant was kneeling on the ground, probably tied up, and one of the attackers had an oddly shaped gun pointed at their newfound captive. A pull of a trigger and a some sort of wave of energy rippled forth, rippling over the tied up merchant. From where I was, I couldn't quite see what it did, besides not killing him. 

"Alright. Think you can back me up on this?" I asked. A few raiders would be a bit of a gamble on my own, but I could manage if she wasn't ready. Lucky for me, she seemed like she was. With a nod, Eden handed my gun back to me and readied her shoddy old laser pistol. The thing was probably given to Vault security just before the bombs dropped, going through all sorts of haphazard repair jobs before ending up in Eden's hands 200 years later. It was certainly no fine piece of work from the Gun Runners, but it would do for now. Most raiders aren't prepared for laser weaponry.

I leaned out of cover and took a look through my scope, first aiming at the raider holding the weird gun. I held my breath, aimed right at his head, and fired.

Blood spurted into the air as the bullet dug into his shoulder. Too low, and it was going cost us in the long run. Always best to be efficient to save ammo. At least it made him drop his gizmo, breaking it as it struck the blacktop of the old road.

They immediately started shouting, yelling out orders to search around for who the hell shot their guy. Didn't take them long to figure out where the bullet had came from, and by the time they had started shooting at us I had already fired my second shot of six, catching a raider with a hunting rifle in the leg.

The other two held .308 pistols and needed to be closer to be dangerous, which was good news. Gave us more time to act while the guy with the hunting rifle dealt with his leg. The raider holding the weird gizmo looked like he didn't have a gun; instead he drew a machete in his left hand and followed behind his fellows. Probably not his dominant hand, but still a problem.

My third shot was a lucky one, and caught the guy with the hunting rifle in the forehead, shutting him up for good. 3 bullets left before a reload. Eden surprised me while I hastily looked around with a well placed shot from behind cover, giving one of the pistol-wielding raiders a nasty burn on his chest. I followed with a fourth and fifth shot, one to follow up and kill Eden's target and then hit the guy with the machete. The latter missed, unfortunately, but one of the pistol wielders was down.

I was probably a little too confident at this point. It was a mistake I made a lot back then. A bullet from the last pistol-holder hit the rock we were taking cover behind, and then another one hit my left arm. Being shot is never fun, even with a thick leather coat like I had, and I immediately dropped back into cover on reflex. One more shot and the two guys were dangerously close now.

Eden ducked behind cover after firing a few more times, and I heard a thud as another raider hit the ground. There was one left, but where?

I turned my head, too late to anticipate the machete-wielding raider's kick that caught me in the face and sent me to the ground. In my confusion I fired off a shot and saw blood fly, but he wasn't dead and swung down with his machete. I rolled as quickly as I could to avoid the strike, and probably lost a few hairs doing so. I had no bullets loaded, and the only thing I could do was try to get my bearings down before he chopped my head off..

Luckily, I didn't need to. A quick laser blast and the raider's face practically melted as he fell to the ground, very much dead.

I got to my feat gingerly, trying not to put any pressure on my arm, and looked to Eden. She was panting heavily on account of the mixture of fear and raw adrenaline. "You alright?" I asked simply as I reloaded my gun, holstered it, and put pressure on my left arm where the bullet had struck me.

She continued to pant wordlessly as she looked down at the raider that had almost done me in. She nodded and leaned against the rock, closing her eyes and muttering something under her breath.

"Run that by me again?" I asked.

Eden swallowed and opened her eyes at me. "Just... I was just... Ah, nevermind. It's stupid anyway. Should we talk to the caravaneer?"

"Yeah." I said, turning to head out past the rock to meet the unfortunate merchant down the road. Eden had only just noticed my arm as we started walking.

"Are you alright?" she asked with slight alarm. She hadn't been hit in the fight, thank god.

I nodded and waved her off with my good hand before returning it to putting pressure over the wound. Fuck, did it stung. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse. Let's just help this poor bastard out first."

When we got to the merchant, I noticed that his eyes were glossed over, as if he was in a trance (or, as I've seen in the strung out junkies in New Reno, he was just really fucking high). I looked over to the odd gizmo that the raiders had dropped, or what was left of it, and guessed it was some kind of hypnosis device. Explained what was wrong with the merchant.

"He's certainly not lucid..." Eden observed. "He's not responding to anything. And he's not going anywhere without leaving some of his stuff behind. His... two-headed cow is dead."

"We call those brahmin out here." I told her. "Tell you what. Check and see if he had anything for kindling. I'll move these raiders out of the way and we can set up here for the night while our friend here comes to his senses."

* * *

We had a decent fire going a few yards away under the cover of an old gas station. Eden had insisted on taking a look at my arm while the merchant we saved slept off his hypnosis. 

"Alright, this might hurt a bit." she said as she jabbed a stimpak straight into my arm. Yeah, it certainly did hurt, but it was better than leaving the bullet wound to fester. Soon enough it went numb, and she went to picking at it with some tweezers and other tools she had. Turned out her dad was a doctor and had picked up a few tricks of the trade. "You're lucky it didn't go in very far."

"I think I'm just lucky that I still have a neck. You kinda saved my life back there." I admitted. "So, like... thanks."

She was silent for a moment, working at getting the bullet out of my arm. "Well, it's what a good person would do, I think. Besides, you're kind of my only hope in finding my dad. I just hope that raiders are the worst of our problems."

I sighed. "Oh, they're definitely not. I'm not going to chance a horde of feral ghouls, or a shootout with super mutants. Not even with a new piece-of-shit hunting rifle."

"What's a super mutant?" she asked. Shit, she really _was_ new out here. Anyone who had been to the west knew about the big green frankensteins that terrorized what is now the NCR about a hundred years ago.

I didn't even know how to answer that. "They're... big. Like, eight feet tall. Green, and... bloodthirsty. They're pretty much the worst thing in the wasteland ever." I said, before remembering something else. "Except Mirelurk queens. Don't ask about those, please."

Eden sighed as she finally dislodged the bullet. Even with the numbing I still felt a dull stinging. "There, that'll do it." she said as she started patching me up. She looked up and slowed for a second. "Why do you wear your sunglasses all the time? It's dark out."

"Well, I told Moriarty the truth. I have really sensitive eyes." I told her. "I grew up in what used to be pre-war Louisiana. My family and I lived on houseboats in the bayou, where the trees still have leaves. Nuclear bombs didn't hit Louisiana so hard outside of New Orleans, you see. The canopies get so thick that they block out the sun constantly. All of us from there need to wear sunglasses when we venture out of the swamp. Our eyes have been dilated for years."

"That sounds... interesting. What are you doing out here then?" she asked, wrapping some medical tape around the wound.

I shook my head. "Long story, and if you don't mind I'd rather not get too much into it. Long story short, I just had to leave." I said. The bad memories from about four years prior were still painfully fresh in my head, and I didn't want to revisit them. "So, I spilled a little something, now it's your turn. What did you mumble after we killed the bandits?"

Eden groaned as she finished her work on my arm. "I'm telling you, you'll think it's stupid."

"I think I can take it."

She gave me a tired look, and stood up to go to the other side of the fire. "It was a prayer. Or, a bible verse. My dad knew a few when we were in the vault. He had my mom's favorite one framed to remember her by. She died giving birth to me. I... like to recite it when I'm feeling stressed. It's comforting."

I had heard of the bible. Hell, some preachers still survived in the wasteland. "What's the verse?"

She recited it as if she had said it a thousand times. She probably had. "Revelation 21:6. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely."

I sat in silence for a few moments after she finished. "Well... whatever keeps you calm, right?" I mused. I wasn't entirely sure how to follow up on something that was obviously quite sacred to her.

"Yeah." she answered with a smile. "Yeah, it does."

 


	5. 2277: The Brotherhood of Steel

The remainder of the journey to the ruins of downtown DC was pretty uneventful. We didn't encounter any more raiders; just the occasional critter. Mole rats are easy to deal with if they don't swarm on you, and rabid dogs are more of an annoyance than anything when compared to what else is out there.

When I saw the collapsed towers of what used to be DC, I knew that it was nothing but a death trap. It had 'Super Mutant Funhouse' written all over it, with a few touches of 'Raider Sniper Heaven' scattered here or there.

"Man, this is gonna suck." I observed, rather pessimistically. "You sure your dad had what it took to get through here?"

Eden looked up at the skyline with me. "I don't know. I found out a _lot_ about my dad in the last few days. But if this is where he went, then it's where I'm going." she replied firmly as she tuned her Pip-boy's radio. The static was still present, but the radio broadcast was now clearly audible. No one was speaking, but some pre-war music was playing.

"Keep that stuff playing to your brain, not out loud. The last thing we want out here is for someone to know where we are." I advised. I un-slinged my hunting rifle and held it at the ready as we approached. Eden complied and switched off her auditory player on her Pip-boy.

It's difficult to describe how DC made me feel. I always preferred cities to the open wilderness, it's why New Vegas is my favorite place. Before the War, DC must have been some sort of glorious metropolis, bustling with people. Looking at it then, though... it wasn't a city. It _was_ the open wilderness, just with concrete instead of wood.

"Stick to the walls, don't walk out to the open streets, and keep an eye on the high points. Snipers could be anywhere." I said, taking my sweet time going through the alleys of Downtown. I could see the fear in Eden's eyes, but that was good; fear would keep her alive.

I could hear the sound of gunfire from far off, so I started leading Eden in the opposite direction until she stopped. "Wait. The signal's getting weaker. We need to go this way." she said. It was the conclusion I dreaded. _Towards_ the firefight, lovely.

"Dammit, if this is how I go out..." I mumbled, reversing my course. The noise of fighting grew louder until I could hear it around a corner. I motioned for Eden to wait, then peeked around.

I don't think I've ever hated the color green more. Granted, the super mutants of DC were more of a yellowish green, but they was green all the same, and there were at least six in the courtyard I was looking in on. They were turned away from us, firing on a target I couldn't see. 

I pressed back up against the wall I had looked around and took a deep breath. "We've got to find a different way around, Eden. There's six mutants around the corner. I wouldn't want to tussle with a single one if I had any say in it. Six is too tall an order."

"Alright... then where do we go?" she asked.

I thought for a moment. "Back around, see if we can climb over any of thi-"

"Look there! Human! Get em!" shouted a voice from the direction we had approached from. Super mutant reinforcements. _Shit._

Two hulking frankensteins began lumbering towards us, crude wooden melee implements in hand. Being clobbered to death was not on my to-do list for the day. "Run. Quick." was all I said before running into the courtyard and away from the reinforcements. It was a stupid move, but it was the only option my mind had presented to me. 

As soon as we crossed in, I heard a muffled voice shouting something about 'civilians'. In my hurry I could still see that three of the original six mutants were lying dead on the ground. The other three were still firing, not noticing me or Eden. The two chasing us, however, caught up.

I aimed my hunting rifle at the foremost mutant and fired off two shots, catching him in the face and taking him out. Lucky, and not quite lucky enough considering the second one coming right at me. The second mutant swung down at me with his nail board, and I did the only thing I could; I held my rifle up by both ends and tried to block the strike. His nail board snapped on impact, and the barrel of my rifle bent from the hit.

The mutant angrily tossed away his broken board and grabbed me by the nape of my coat, lifting me a few feet off the ground. He roared, sending mutant spittle at my face before reeling back for a punch.

A laser shot forth and struck him in the face, making him reel back and drop me to the ground. I went for my pistol and aimed it upwards, firing all six loaded shots at him before he fell down to the ground, dead. The laser couldn't have come from Eden; she was behind me, not to the side. One of the people the mutants were fighting must have helped, and that meant they were friends in my book.

The firing continued to ring out to the side while I scrambled off of the ground, looking around for Eden. She was there, hiding behind a collapsed concrete pillar, thankfully unharmed. Soon enough the firing died out, and I looked to the corpses of five super mutants and a steaming pile of ash. From a corridor and out of the shadows walked a figre clad in power armor, holding a laser rifle limply in one hand. They were followed by several others in the same style of armor.

Oh, great. Brotherhood.

The leader of the squad took off their helmet, revealing 'themselves' to be a blonde woman in her mid twenties. "What the hell are you two doing here? This is mutant central; you need to get out of here."

"No. We need to get to Galaxy News Radio. I need to find my father." Eden insisted, coming out of cover. She seemed in awe; I suppose she'd never seen power armor before. Granted I hadn't seen it very many times either; only Brotherhood soldiers or _really_ lucky wastelanders got their hands on a suit.

"There's no one there but Brotherhood soldiers and Three Dog, unless you mean... Oh, fine. Just stay behind us and keep your heads down while we get to GNR. They're under attack, and we're the reinforcements." said the blonde woman. "Alright, Lyon's Pride, move out."

The 'Lyon's Pride', as they were called, led the way towards the sound of fighting. It was getting louder and louder until we finally crossed into a plaza at the foot of a tall, relatively undamaged building with a large sign bearing the letters GNR; Galaxy News Radio, at last.

More power armored soldiers from the Brotherhood were standing at the foot of the building, defending it against approaching super mutants. This place really _was_ Mutant central as the blonde woman had said; the ground was littered with mutant corpses, with only a couple Brotherhood soldiers lying there with them.

The Lyon's Pride joined the battle and quickly wiped out the mutants still in the plaza, waving us in up close. We made it about halfway before thundering footsteps ringed out from beyond the plaza.

"Oh, shit." one of the Brotherhood members muttered.

It was the most well-placed 'oh shit' I'd ever heard, because immediately after he muttered it, a nearby bus exploded and a gigantic super mutant, nearly 15 feet tall, thundered into the plaza holding a makeshift mace tipped with a fire hydrant.

"Behemoth!" the blonde woman shouted, running to cover frantically. I grabbed Eden and urged her to follow, ducking behind a pile of sandbags. I peeked out to get a look at the Behemoth. I was scared out of my mind; I had heard of Behemoths before, but I didn't think they really existed; The people of the wasteland make up all sorts of bullshit, like talking deathclaws or invisible deathclaws. Usually the bullshit involves deathclaws.

I snapped out of the fear and started thinking of our situation. I could care less about the techno-knights, but they were the only ones able to take down the hulking monstrosity that was tearing up the plaza. With a well-placed swing, it knocked a Brotherhood knight across the courtyard and through a weak wall.

The Lyon's Pride tried to lure him away from the building, meaning that for now the plaza was secure. "Alright, let's get inside. They can handl-"

Eden got up mid-advice and dashed towards a bench in the middle of the plaza. "What the hell are you doing?" I shouted, about to run after her until I saw what she was after. She hoisted a huge weapon on her shoulders, flipped a couple of safety switches, and launched a miniature nuclear warhead at the behemoth. Yeah. A _miniature nuclear warhead._ Imagine my surprise when I laid eyes on that for the first time, no idea that the Fat Man 'portable warhead catapult' existed.

The warhead detonated with enough force to knock the Behemoth over, forcing him down onto a nearby one-story building. The impact made the roof of the building cave in, and the Behemoth laid still once the dust had settled. The Lyon's Pride re-emerged from the nearby un-collapsed building, staring incredulously at Eden.

"Holy shit. Eden, how'd you know to do that?" I asked, heading down the stairs.

Eden gently placed the empty Fat Man down and looked down at it. "I... Just saw it on our way in, and figured what it was."

"Well, I suppose it's you saving my life this time." said the blonde woman. "I'm Sarah Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel. These soldiers behind me are the Lyon's Pride. Thanks for your help out here. Three Dog's inside; if you've got questions about someone who's come through, he's the one to ask. Just... be careful. He's a little eccentric."

* * *

'Eccentric' wasn't the half of it, but that's exactly why I liked Three Dog. He was that sort of genuine crazy, the kind of crazy that just couldn't be bad. He genuinely cared about the people of the wasteland, and wanted to make things better for one and all.

"Salutations, children!" he called from the top of the stairs leading up to his office. "What brings you to my lair this fine day?"

He was awfully optimistic considering the place he lived in. I guess having personal bodyguards clad head-to-toe in power armor made things a bit more livable. "Three Dog, right? We've heard good things."

"That's me, the voice of all that is right; bow-wow-wow. What can I do to set you straight? You've came all this way to find me; you must want something."

I nodded and pointed to Eden. She stepped forward to speak. "Hi, er... Mr. Dog. I'm looking for my father. He was said to have come through here. Do you know anything?"

It was like talking to Moriarty all over again. Despite his sunglasses, you could tell that Three Dog was a bit surprised. "Ah, so it's you. Yeah, James mentioned you. You must be little Eden; though I guess you're not so little anymore."

"So you've seen him! Please, you have to tell me where he is!"

Three Dog held up a hand. "Easy there. Your old man came through all right, looking for information on the state of the Capital Wasteland. Who were the winners, the losers, what have ya. Then I told him where to head off to; but before I tell you anymore, you've gotta contribute to the Good Fight, kiddo."

Eden blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard, kid. You help me, I'll help you. Galaxy News Radio is my baby, and I take care of her. With her, I spread the good news to the people of the Capital Wasteland, and keep them informed of things going down that are beyond their control."

I nodded. "You keep the people informed so that things like raiders and mutants don't take them by surprise."

"Exactly!" Three Dog agreed with a nod. "Not everyone can just take a gun and hunt the muties down all by themselves. I have the power to do something great here; but unfortunately, there's been a bit of a problem. We use the old Washington Monument to broadcast the GNR signal to the entire Capital Wasteland, but the relay dish we used to broadcast got shot off a few weeks ago. Some mutie thought it'd be fun to take a few pot shots at the shiny disc up on top of the monument. So now we need a replacement, but unfortunately, there's only one place to get one; the old dish on the lunar rover in the old Museum of Technology."

"So you want us to go get it. Alright, fine." Eden agreed.

I shook my head, however. "Whoa, whoa, hang on. I get what you're trying to do here, but that's down further in the ruins, isn't it? Are you sending us into a super mutant den?"

Three Dog shook his head and his hands. "Not by yourself, no. I'll be sure that the brotherhood gets someone to go with you. Without this dish, GNR's voice goes unheard to the people of the wasteland. They'll understand. Hell, they'll probably drop some ammo your way too."

I looked to Eden, who looked back to Three Dog and nodded. "Alright. We'll be back with the dish."

 


End file.
